Cards notebook: Deal or stand pat?

St. Louis could use some pitching, but has plenty of good hands as trade deadline looms

St. Louis Cardinals' Allen Craig (21) celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Saturday, July 5, 2014, in St. Louis.(AP Photo/Tom Gannam)
The Associated Press

St. Louis Cardinals' Allen Craig (21) celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Saturday, July 5, 2014, in St. Louis.(AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

The St. Louis Cardinals represented the National League in the World Series a year ago. They are challenging Milwaukee in the NL Central — trailing the Brewers by two games coming into this week's series against the Padres — for another postseason berth.

Would another quality pitcher or hitter assist in the playoff push? Certainly. And with the non-waiver trade deadline approaching on Thursday, the Cardinals have been among the teams rumored to be looking for help.

Tampa Bay's David Price, Boston's Jon Lester or Philadelphia's Cole Hamels would be a nice fit to fill out the starting rotation. A run-producing bat would benefit an offense that ranks next to last in the majors in runs scored.

But you have to be careful what you wish for — especially out loud — in case it doesn't end up happening.

"Our guys have done a nice job of not falling into the trap of being vocal to the GM," said St. Louis manager Mike Matheny as he sat in the Cardinals dugout before Tuesday night's game. "That's a bad spot for players to go to, where they're starting to use their voice as an opportunity to push. ... You start talking about clubhouse dynamics, you're basically telling somebody in there that you don't think they're doing their job. It's just not a great plan.

"There's some veteran guys on this club and they've been asked their opinions at certain times. What do they see? What's the pulse of the club? That's part of the leadership of a veteran player. But they've got to be careful not to get too public with those kinds of things because it just breaks a team down."

St. Louis has been up and down, staying above .500 but not winning enough to overtake Milwaukee and establish itself as a certain playoff team. But the manager is confident in the current composition of his club.

"We've got a good group of guys," said Matheny. "If we get things clicking right, we've got a team that can go out and play against anybody."

And you never know what might happen if you try to too hard to make something happen.

"That's something that we have to keep in mind," said Matheny. "You can have the most perfectly laid out game plan as to how you're going to improve this club and there's a lot of different things that have to happen in order for that to work. There's a high likelihood that who you have is who you're going to be and we have to have all the confidence in the world at what we've got here."

Asked if the starting pitching could use some improvement, Matheny said, "I'm going to take the same stance I want my players to take. I'm not making any kind of public statement like that ... That's not a good place for us to be. We're doing things behind closed doors trying to make our team better. In a (public) forum like this, I don't see any benefit."

"My philosophy is to believe in who we've got. If there's an opportunity to make ourselves better in some regard, you always have to entertain it. Then once that happens, move forward."

GOOD CATCH

St. Louis picked up veteran catcher A.J. Pierzynski over the weekend after he was released by the Boston Red Sox. Pierzynski is a good fill-in for injured catcher Yadier Molina (thumb ligament), who is expected to be out until September.

Pierzynski had three hits Saturday in his debut and added a double in Sunday's victory. Any offense Pierzynski provides will be a bonus, however. The larger concern is how quickly he acclimates himself to a new pitching staff.

"Defensively, he did a nice job," Matheny said of the catcher's weekend work. "He's learning all these guys idiosyncracies. He's learning all the times when they might cut a ball and it's supposed to sink and those are the sorts of things that you're going to see some miscatches. That (improved framing) only comes with experience. You can be warned about it, but until you get your own eyes on it it's really difficult to figure out what these guys are going to do. It takes a little bit of time, but overall I think he's adjusted very well."

THIS AND THAT

— The Cardinals recorded their 18th shutout of the season in Sunday's 1-0 victory over the Cubs. With 58 games to play, that already ties them for the most shutouts in a season over the past 25 years.

— Adam Wainwright picked up his major league-leading 13th win in Sunday's game.

— St. Louis outfielder Matt Holliday has more career home runs (17) and RBIs (75) against the Padres than everyone else on the Cardinals roster combined (6 HR, 72 RBIs). Most of the damage by Holliday has been on the road. He is batting just .212 at Petco Park with five homers and 27 RBIs.

— The Cardinals came into the series ranked 29th in the majors in runs scored with 385. Only the Padres, with 323 runs, have scored fewer.

— St. Louis must avoid falling behind its opponents. The Cardinals are just 12-32 when the other team scores first.

— They are distant memories now, but the Padres have faced the Cardinals more times — 10 — than any other team in the postseason. The Padres would probably just as soon forget. St. Louis is 9-1 in those games.